Even the forecast was rain rain rain…we woke up to a pleasant sunshine day.
Like every Tuesday we went to the Gymboree Music class. Maarten loves it and it seems that Oma and Lia have enjoyed it too.
I’m really surprised how good he already reacts to the English language. He responds very well when Gigi (the teacher) asks him to do something.

Another rainy day

Today I and Maarten went by bike to San Ramon community center to register and enroll Maarten for a swimming class. Again! I was really naïve to think I could be successful within one week.
The local bureaucracy reminds me my past life back in Czechoslovakia ;-)

Today a big surprise for Maarten – a package at the front door! and....inside three wonderful books from ‘teta Peddie’! (Thank you Peggy!)
He was very excited and started immediately to read ;-)

In the evening we could see that Maarten is aware of the ‘puma’ from last night so we tried not to pay attention to the dark outdoors not make him even more scared.

Monterey

We had a wonderful day at the Monterey Peninsula. We took the 17 miles drive and enjoyed it's beautiful views.

Maarten got another birthday present – a piano from his aunt Lia. Wow! it makes such wonderful and loud noises! Maarten can’t stay away from it.

Sunday evening we had an adorable visitor to our backyard - a raccoon! (even Maarten called him 'puma' ;-))

Maarten's 2nd birthday!

Today is Maarten's 2nd birthday!
We decorated the whole house with garlands and balloons the evening before. Maarten loves it!
In the morning we went to San Jose to the Disney on Ice show. Maarten was excited and I hope he liked it the same we did.
For his big day he has chosen a fashionable hat (compare to us).
After his afternoon nap we sang to him according to the Dutch tradition ;-) and he finally got his cake with two candles on it.
Plus of course his presents. His favorites are the books from Oma, but he loved the wooden hedgehog from his cousin Nina as well. His ‘retro’ tricycle is a big challenge to him.
And for the dinner? Pizza!!! His most popular meal!

Heavy rain in the morning (but sunny and windy in the afternoon)anyway we had fun!

Oma Suze and aunt Lia arrived!
Maarten was exhausted. He had to miss his afternoon nap (we went together to pick them up at the airport), but he is happy to have a two new playmates ;-)
He has got a lot of new toys, books (of course! since he is a real bookworm) and even two chocolate Easter hares! He played with them and cuddled them till he found out how they taste…

'Dráček'

Another beautiful day!
Maarten spot a colorful 'dráček' (a kite) down in the nearby Hidden Valley Park and I couldn’t get him home…

PS: It seems Maarten is enjoying the gardening too, poor oregano ;-)

18/2 Chinese New Year 2007 a year of the Pig

Rob finally bought a BBQ grill this weekend. I was lucky because he brought also some herbs to plant for me! So finally I can do a little bit of gardening myself.
It was vary warm on Saturday. We will have to buy another parasol for our terrace. It was even now too hot there.
Today a bit cloudy in the morning. We went to the Vasona Park in Los Gatos to check out the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. Maarten was a bit scared of the loud sound of the engine but he enjoyed it just like the historical carousel.
We met there with our Czech friends from Los Gatos and had some lunch together at a Vietnamese restaurant afterwards.

Czech PlayDate on Friday/Warning Mountain Lion Sighting

Today Maarten had a Czech PlayDate: Tomasek and Lizinka visited us with their mom Carol. They had to drive all the way from San Jose and besides of that something went wrong with the cell phone connection when they were looking for our house. But luckily they found us in the end and we had a nice time in the back yard. Even Maarten was a bit shy in the beginning he seemed to be comfortable at last. A relief for me as well.
The weather is wonderful. Warm and sunny what we used to back in Europe in May.

PS: February 16, 2007 Chevron Park
Yesterday afternoon, an animal reported to resemble a mountain lion was sighted on our jogging trail, adjacent to Parking Lots 10, 11 & 12. Please use extreme caution when using this area.

San Ramon

I thought I should say something about the place we live. San Ramon seems quieter than Walnut Creek where we spent our first year in America. It is here so close to the nature. The hills are getting green because of the rain we have during the winter. It’s beautiful! Maarten loves to watch the grazing cows from his window and we even spotted some coyotes up there.
Anyway the house we live in is nice but far too big for me. In the future I hope to get a smaller one store house with a larger backyard. Since the yards are too tiny here. And we even get the garden maintenance. I do really suffer to see the men work in the garden every Friday. (I love to do it myself!)
So far the temperature is very nice, rather chilly than warm. The summer supposed to be in San Ramon even warmer than in Walnut Creek. I better not think about that yet.
Today we went by bike to the park with Maarten. A wonderful weather to take some pictures of our neighborhood and our home.
(BTW Maarten swallowed a big piece of plastic in the morning. He did it just on purpose seeing me panicky trying to get it out of his mouth. He bit into my finger very painfully and quick swallowed it all….)

getting started

Hi, finally I got started. I hope, I can keep up posting here some news about our life in California. As my English is not that good (yet ;-)) and because of the shortage of time, please don't expect big stories. And I prefer to write in English considering it a kind of Esperanto.

Let's see how far I'll get.

Maarten is enjoying his Gymboree classes every Tuesday. I hope it will help him to get along with other little children. Since he is kind of scared of small children because an accident at the pediatrician one year ago (another babyboy scratched him in his eyes).

Enough for today. Have a lot of correspondance to deal with since my trip to Europe last October.